


Olympics AU

by twangcat



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Olympics, Phil cares more about Clint than anything else, gymnastics is sexy af, including himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 12:22:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7844761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twangcat/pseuds/twangcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil has been coaching Clint for years. Since he was a rugrat in the gym with no money and no prospects.</p><p>Phil spotted his talent and mentored him through the junior championships. Other coaches tried to recruit Clint. Said they could help him get further and faster. Phil encouraged Clint to go with the more skilled coaches. Young Clint refused to leave Phil. He didn’t trust or want anyone else.</p><p>Somewhere along the way Clint grew up. He stopped being a rugrat or just a kid. He filled out in ALL the right places and Phil started to feel really uncomfortable about the inappropriate feelings he was having towards his student.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Olympics AU

**Author's Note:**

> There was a video floating around tumblr of a male gymnast doing a partial strip tease as part of his parallel bars routine. The video has been taken offline, but it inspired this ficlet :)

Phil has been coaching Clint for years. Since he was a rugrat in the gym with no money and no prospects.

Phil spotted his talent and mentored him through the junior championships. Other coaches tried to recruit Clint. Said they could help him get further and faster. Phil encouraged Clint to go with the more skilled coaches. Young Clint refused to leave Phil. He didn’t trust or want anyone else.

Somewhere along the way Clint grew up. He stopped being a rugrat or just a kid. He filled out in ALL the right places and Phil started to feel really uncomfortable about the inappropriate feelings he was having towards his student.

Clint meanwhile was coming into his own and starting to figure out that while girls were pretty, what really got his engine going was other men. Fortunately, he had Coulson as a model. Coulson who was out and proud. He didn’t flaunt it, but he never shied away from the fact that he was gay and with a role model like that, Clint nicely managed to skip over any coming out angst. He was just like his idol, Coulson, what was wrong with that?

Clint fooled around with a few boys, had a couple more serious relationships, but gymnastics was always going to come first and none of them could ever compare to Coulson.

It wasn’t until he was competing on the world circuit and starting to find his own unique (and admittedly unorthodox) style that he started to figure things out. It wasn’t just that he was gay, liked slightly older men, and had a thing for the strong and silent type with blue eyes. It was Coulson he was in love with.

When all the pieces fell into place, it felt like all the static on the radio went away and everything felt right. Of course, he was in love with Phil. Who had he ever met who was as smart, as kind, as funny, as gentle, as firm, as loving, and as gorgeous in every way as Phil? He’d been falling in love for years without ever knowing it.

Clint started to shift his style a little bit. Make it a little more sexy, a little more sensual; he wanted to inspire in Phil what he felt in himself. He wanted to entice him into wanting more. 

It didn’t work. Phil was Phil. He hugged him, cheered him, rubbed his sore muscles, supported him every step of the way, but he never showed any sign of wanting to cross the line.

When Clint won the world championships, they celebrated. They went out with the team first, but then they went back to Phil’s room for a private drink. It was just the two of them, lounging on Phil’s hotel room couch, sharing a glass of his favorite scotch. 

Clint bumped Phil’s shoulder with his own. “Hey.” He let the word drag out slowly feeling the sound of it.

Phil smiled indulgently back at him and returned the bump. “Hey yourself.”

Clint’s words were a little slurred. “You’re amazing.”

Phil chuckled. “You just won the worlds, Clint. I think you’re the amazing one.”

Clint leaned into Phil’s shoulder. “I’d be nothing without you.”

Phil wrapped an arm around him. “You know that’s not true. Someone else would have spotted your talent and you’d probably have reached this level years earlier if you’d had a more experienced coach.”

Clint snuggled into his hug. “I don’t want anyone except you.”

Phil chuckled. “And that is your only failing.”

Clint said, “It’s because I love you.”

Phil squeezed him tight. “I love you too. You are my family.”

Frustrated and angry, Clint pulled away. “No! Not like that. I LOVE you.”

Phil tried to shush him. “Clint, you’ve been on a strict diet for months and you’ve had a lot to drink tonight. Maybe it’s gone to your head.”

In a heartbeat, Clint twisted himself around so that he was straddling Phil’s lap and had his hands pinned down beside him. He said angrily, “No! I love you!” He leaned and pressed his lips on to Phil’s. He tried to force his way inside Phil’s mouth to show him exactly what he meant, but was it was like trying to kiss a statue, Phil didn’t move.

Clint kissed along his jaw line to ear, peppered him with kisses and little love nips. “I love you. I want you. It’s always you.”

Phil said, “No. Stop Clint. This is wrong.”

“No. I love you.” He could hear the desperation in his own voice but it was like a tidal wave he couldn’t stop. “Please. Love me. I love you. I love you.” 

Phil wasn’t strong enough to win a physical contest with Clint, but he didn’t even try to push him. He just stayed stock still and used his words. “I said ‘no’ Clint. Please stop.”

Clint tried to kiss him again but the kiss was wet and salty, there were a few of Clint's silent tears mixed up with his kiss. He released Phil’s arms and cupped his face lovingly. “But, I love you.” He was begging now and he hated it, but he couldn’t stop.

Phil’s firm hands on his waist were a familiar feeling, but it wasn’t the caress of a lover that Clint had hoped for. Phil was lifting Clint up and off of himself and placing him back on the couch.

Phil stood up and took him to his feet. He said gently, “You don’t mean it, Clint. You are excited about winning, a little drunk, and we’ve always been close. But you don’t want me like that. I’m saying ‘no’ for your own good.”

Clint couldn’t look at him. Couldn’t see that kind gentleness and know it wasn’t the love he wanted so badly.

Silently, he let Phil pull him to his feet and guide him back to his own room.

When he woke up, his head was throbbing; there was a bottle of water and some aspirin beside his bed, and all the terrible memories of what he had done the night before in his head.

* * *

He text Phil, “Celebration breakfast?”

It was their routine. Every big victory got one celebration breakfast where Clint didn’t have to follow his diet and they could relax together, but after last night he wasn’t sure if the tradition would hold.

Phil replied immediately. “Of course! I’m surprised you need to ask :)”

Maybe everything would be okay?

 

Everything was not okay.

 

Phil had a plan and Clint hated it.  Phil had found him a new Coach: Natasha Romanov.

She was one of the best. She had coached the Russian Olympic team until a few years ago when she had suddenly been cut. It was only now coming out that she had been fired for refusing to allow her team to dope. She’d been a free agent for a while but was looking to get back into the games and Phil had decided that she would be Clint’s coach.

Clint’s breakfast tasted like sawdust in his mouth. “Is this because of last night?”

Phil hesitated, a bite of omelet halfway between his mouth and his plate. He visibly swallowed. “In part, yes. But also because you need someone better than me.”

Clint’s shoulders sank. “Does it matter that I’m sorry? Because I am. I really am. I know what I did last night was wrong and I promise I’ll never drink again. However this goes, I’ll never drink again, but please don’t leave me.”

Phil reached out to squeeze his hand. “I’m not leaving you. You’ve shaped my life and I’ve shaped yours. No matter what happens, we’ll always be a part of each other. But you need to move on, you need a more experienced coach, and you need to not be confused about what you feel for me. You love me like a father or maybe like a brother and I need you to not be confused about what that means.”

Clint didn’t let go of Phil’s hand. He looked up into his blue eyes and tried to pour all the earnestness he felt into his gaze. “I don’t, Phil. I really don’t. If that’s how you feel about me, then that’s your business and I won’t push. But don’t try to tell me what my feelings are. I dream about you. I think about you when I’m alone. I ache for you the way no other man has made me feel and all of that is without you ever touching me. I know what I feel.”

Phil squeezed his hand and tried to pull away. “You don’t have the life experience to know that, Clint. I’ve been a part of your life since you were just a kid. You need time without me to know how you feel.”

Clint wanted to hold on to Phil’s hand, but he had to let it go, holding him there by force was all the more wrong after what he had done last night. “You’re not that much older than me.”

Phil chuckled and looked away. “Fifteen years is a lot. It’s not as much now that you’re twenty, but I was twenty-five when we met and you were just a kid. Trust me, Clint. It matters. I need to let you go so that you can grow up without me. So that you can fall in love and get your heart broken and break someone else’s heart before you find the right man for you.”

Clint sighed and blinked away the tears trying to fall. “I’m really sorry about last night. I’m sorry I held you down like that, I’m sorry I kissed you without asking, I’m sorry I didn’t stop when you said ‘no’. I’m sorry about all of it.”

Phil stood up and moved behind Clint’s chair to give him a hug. “I know. And I forgive you. But I need to give us space. Trust me. Natasha will be good for you.”

Clint leaned back into Phil’s arms and tried to tell himself this wasn’t good bye forever but it was hard to believe it. “I do. I’ll always trust you.”

* * *

Natasha was good for him.

The progress he made over the next six months was extraordinary. Phil had done his best, but he’d been learning about how to be a world level coach at the same time that Clint was learning to be a world level competitor. Having a coach who didn’t need to learn as she went made a world of difference.

Clint surprised everyone by qualifying for the Olympics four years before they thought he would.

Natasha took his already sensual style and kicked it up a notch turning him into the hottest thing on the gymnastics floor. Phil had embraced his natural style, but Natasha showed him new ways to let his body move and more ways to be a showman on the floor.

Phil watched from the distance. He never sent more than one email a month but he sent that email every month on the first. They were always long and full of funny stories and compliments on his work. Clint looked forward to them like a man in the desert looked forward to finding an oasis. They were his salvation and his hope.

He knew Phil and Natasha talked more frequently, but Phil had new rules and insisted on keeping his distance.

Clint also found new boyfriends. Without Phil around, there were some men who started to attract his attention, but it was never serious. It was always Phil that he came back to wanting.

* * *

On the morning of his Olympic performance, Clint sent Phil an email. He kept it simple and to the point.

> _Dearest Phil,_
> 
> _I’m sending this message before my competition because I want you to know it has nothing to do with how this turns out. You were right to push me to move on. You’ve been right about so many things in my life; I should have learned a long time ago to never doubt you. But you were wrong about one thing: I am in love with you._
> 
> _Maybe it’s because I grew up with you, maybe it’s because you were always there for me, maybe it’s because of a million other things. But you know what? The reason why doesn’t matter. You’re not like a father or a brother to me, you are my other half. When I perform, it’s you I’m performing for. I’ll never push you if you say ‘no’, but I want you to know: stone cold sober and on the most important day of my life, I don't just love you, I’m in love with you and I always will be. When I perform today, it’ll be you I’m thinking of._
> 
> _Yours always, heart, mind, body and soul,_
> 
> _Clint_

Clint’s Olympic performance was like nothing they had ever seen before. The crowd hooted and hollered and cheered and amidst all the noise, Clint imagined that he could hear Phil’s voice in his ear. He always thought of Phil when he performed. He put the rest of the audience out of his mind and he put on a show for the man he loved more than anyone.

He’d wobbled a little on one of his handstands and his tuck hadn’t been perfect, he knew he wasn’t going to win gold this time. But that didn’t matter. He’d done his best and Natasha greeted him with hugs and cheers and they whooped and hollered with the best of them. He’d come from nowhere to get to this point and he’d be back in four years to show them all how it was done.

He was toasting his success with Perrier when he felt all the world around him faded away.

 

Across the room was Phil.

 

It was the first time he’d seen his former coach in years and he looked good. Casual slacks with light linen shirt unbuttoned at the top and a jacket slung over one shoulder.

Clint’s mouth dried up and he tried to remember how to breathe.

 

Their eyes met and time stopped.

 

He felt the pulse of his heart like the ticking of a clock and the universe moved forward in infinitesimal increments.

 

Glasses clinked and Phil moved closer.

 

Laughter in the background and Phil was closer still.

 

Time sped up in bits and spurts until Phil was right beside him.

Phil’s eyes crinkled at the edges in a smile and they were a blue as they’d ever been.

Clint breathed out, “You came?”

Phil’s smile faded a little. “I’ve always watched. I couldn’t help watching.”

Clint said, “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“I needed to give you space.”

“I didn’t want space.”

“I know. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t need it.”

Natasha said, “I don’t need to be here for this conversation. Phil, don’t break my prize student.”

Phil didn’t look away from Clint’s gaze. “I’d never break him. He’s too precious.”

“Idiots.” And Natasha was gone.

Clint said, “I’m precious?”

“I love you.”

“Phil?”

“I love you. I’ve loved you for years and wanted you in ways that were inappropriate since the French championships.”

“But that was almost a year before I kissed you.”

“I know.”

“You never said anything.”

“It was wrong.”

“You pushed me away.”

“You needed to grow up.”

Clint was trembling all over. “So why are you here now?”

“Because I am still in love with you and I couldn’t stay away.”

Clint’s breath caught in his chest. “You…”

“I got your message this morning and… I just couldn’t say ‘no’ to that. I’m still too old for you, but I’m not your coach anymore and… If you still want me, I’ll be in your life however you want me.”

Clint couldn’t believe this was really happening. “Kiss me? Kiss me so that I know it’s real and it’s your choice and not just another fantasy?”

Phil moved so close that Clint could feel his puffs of breath against his lips on each word. “I love you.”

His lips were soft and dry, this kiss was tender and sweet, just a press of his lips on Clint’s, but it took his breath away and felt like the start of something perfect and new.


End file.
